Skylights have become more and more popular with new homes or when renovating an older home. Skylights may be installed in the roof of a home or in a solarium, or a sunroom enclosure. When manufacturing skylights it is typical that they are made to fit a particular standard sized opening. The installer, (typically the roofer) for a replacement skylight, must therefore carefully measure the opening in which the skylight will be installed and provide the manufacturer with these dimensions. When creating the opening in a roof, it will be necessary to extend the opening down through an attic and ultimately into the room into which the light is desired. A tunnel therefore, must be formed between the room through the attic and adjacent to the opening in the roof. This tunnel is lined with drywall, or wooden boards, or the like. These boards or drywall extend up to near the roof line and must be accommodated with any skylight installation. In some instances, for example with a curb mount unit, unsightly pockets or steps are created which attract dust and insects. It would be advantageous to be able to make adjustments for manufacturing tolerances at the site, resulting in a better fit and finish of the installation. Heretofore a skylight assembly accommodating installation variations is unknown.
In order to install known skylight assemblies, the installer will insert the skylight into the opening and will be required to enter the home and climb a ladder to access the underside of the skylight to fasten it properly, for example a curb, to adjacent the tunnel area. Most installers are roofers, as window installers normally will not climb onto a roof.
It would be advantageous to provide a skylight assembly which may be installed from the roof only or from the tunnel area only. This will result in a significant amount of labour savings in retrofit installations or maintenance. It would also be advantageous to provide a standardized skylight assembly for retrofit installations which includes a predetermined latitude for adjustment by the installer.
It is therefore a primary object of the invention to provide a skylight assembly which will accommodate variations from installation to installation.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a skylight assembly which may be utilized for installation in a roof of a dwelling, or the same assembly may be utilized for installation in a solarium.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide standardized cross sections for skylight assemblies for various installations with a curb mount system, a curbless mounting system, and sunroom or solarium installation.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a standardized framing section for a skylight assembly which may be used with a curb installation, without a curb installation, and within the solarium by providing removable portions formed with the framing section.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a section which may be utilized to interconnect adjacent skylights and provide water shedding capabilities therefore.
Further and other objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art when considering the following summary of the invention and the more detailed description of the preferred embodiments illustrated herein.